Dana 35 leaking from driver side axle seal after suspension work

[patdugan]

Hi!
I have a 99 Wrangler Sport and was performing a couple of maintenance items this past week that included:

1. Replacing the rear brake hose
2. Replacing the rear sway bar bushings and sway bar links
3. Replacing the rear pinion seal
4. Replacing the rear lower control arms
5. Changing the rear diff fluid

The Jeep has been sitting un-driven for a few weeks and as I was finishing this all up and getting ready to add new gear oil, I noticed some oil seeping from the bottom rubber stopper on the back of the driver side brake drum. Looking inside, theres a small line of oil dripping down from the axle seal that had started pooling at the bottom of the drum.

Is this actually a sign that the seal is bad and has been leaking for a while, or could some oil have seeped past the seal while I was lifting the rear axle from side to side while I was working on replacing portions of the suspension? I did a full rear drum brake service about a year and a half ago and it wasn't leaking at the time.

I'm assuming the seal does need to be replaced but wanted to ask before I started tearing things apart again.

 

[patdugan]

Assuming it does need to be replaced, is there I preferred brand of seal and bearing? I did the same job on a Ford 8.8 last year and had good luck with Timken, so it looks like the Timken parts in this case would be:

1. Timken 8660S
2. Timken 5707